"SUBWAY RIDERS is a chilling melodrama
of angst, alienation and obsession. Poe and his Director of Photography
(and producer) Johanna Heer use color (lurid reds and neon blues)
symbolically and odd camera angles subtly underscore the premise
that the characters are not simply bizarros alienated from society,
but rather that anomie is the definitive characteristic of the modern
world itself. SUBWAY RIDERS' music does
not merely accompany the film, but occupies its own aural space
and so adds its own distinct perspective to this highly stylized,
richly textured portrait of a world of random murders." -Jeff McLaughlin, The Boston Globe

"Johanna Heer's cinematography superbly conveys the ominous nocturnal atmosphere of streets and subways. Buildings, drip threatening shadows, echoes rattle down deserted subway platforms, even brownstone steps exude malevolence in the murky light. Inside, the temperature oscillates between the stifling red heat of Penelope's room and the eerie blue chill on Zindo's face as he practices beneath a neon Miller Beer sign. Camera play such as a close-up of a mayonnaise jar in an empty refrigerator or odd excursions into inconsequential space next to a character, contributes to the surreal mood." -Kathleen Hulser, The Film Journal

"Poe's melding of traditional film noir elements with a frenetic new wave sensibility electrifies the audience with the intensity of a third rail. Needless to say, the cinematography, by Johanna Heer, is stunning. The gritty cityscapes pictured in SUBWAY RIDERS are far more honest and provocative in their presentation than the schmaltz of more pretentious productions like MANHATTAN, to name just one..."-Mike Ferris, The Harvard Independent

"The most direct attempt to switch off mainstream expectations
I have seen in U.S. alternative cinema occurs in SUBWAY
RIDERS, made by Amos Poe and Johanna Heer in 1981. The opening
sequence shows Poe rejecting an offer to sell his script to Hollywood.
The story then gets ultra-low-budget in look and sound, but also
introduces a color-coded stylization, in which each main character's
mood is shown by tinting the image. This stylization is pushed further
by double casting the main character, a schizophrenic saxophone
player who regularly tries to murder whoever hears him play. Poe
and Heer made a film fully within German Expressionist terms and
at the same time one that has the feeling of documentary realism.
That Poe deliberately disconnected viewer expectations for a normal
movie is part of the reason SUBWAY RIDERS became a cult classic, especially in Europe.
-- "Technology and film practice: Hollywood and low-budget
alternatives" by Charles Eidsvik, from Jump Cut, no. 36, May
1991, pp. 36-42, 73 Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary
Media, 1991, 2006